Friday, 27 September 2013

This is my first practice game for my 1850 tournament that I will be
attending in October, I know it’s quite late to start preparing but that’s the
way it’s gone. It’s a game of Crusade with 3 objectives vs Imperial fist Space
marines using Dawn of war deployment.

The Armies

I use my current 1850 point list (thanks again Yeeman)

Farseer – 115 (warlord: Fates messenger) w/Guardians

Spirit stone of Anath’lan (Guide, Doom, Executioner)

Spiritseer – 70 w/ Dark reapers

Protect, conceal

5 Wraithguard – 165

Wave serpent – 135

Twin-linked scatter laser, holo field

10 guardians – 110

Bright lance

Wave serpent – 135

Twin-linked scatter laser, holo field

10 Guardians – 110

Bright lance

Wave serpent – 135

Twin-linked scatter laser, holo field

5 rangers - 60

6 Swooping hawks – 96

8 Warp spiders – 152

Fire prism – 140

Holo field

2 War walkers – 140

Scatter laser/Bright lance

5 Dark reapers – 207

Exarch, fast shot, night vision, 4 x starshot

Defence line – 85

Lascannon

Total: 1850

And my opponent brought his Imperial fists, with a couple of proxies
as he has lost some of his models or hasn’t built them yet.

Lysander – 230 (warlord) w/ terminators

Command squad – 160

3 x storm shield, power axe, champion

Razorback - 55

Tactical squad – 127

8 man, plasma gun

Rhino – 35

Tactical squad – 90

5 man, lascannon

3 Centurion devastators – 270

3 x missile launcher, 2 x lascannon, omniscope

5 Terminators – 200

5 Assault terminators – 210 (in land raider)

2 x thunder hammer/storm shield

Devastator squad – 150

4 x lascannon

Land raider – 250

Hunter – 70

Total: 1847

This isn’t the kind of list I would expect to see in the tournament
but it has a lot to worry about never the less. That much 2+ armour and heavy
weapons could really upset my plans. I will have to be careful and target the
hard units first. Luckily only 2 troops choices so I might be able to take advantage
of that.

The Mission

We roll for mission and get crusade with 3 objectives, and deployment
is dawn of war. My opponent wins the roll to select deployment zone. I place
down my defence line showing him where I will likely be placing my force. We
then roll for first turn and he wins again, and elects to deploy and go first. He
places his objectives either side of the ruin in his deployment zone. I deploy
mine behind my defence line behind a bunker.

The marines deploy quite close together with the land raider on the
left, devastators in the ruin then the rhino, hunter and razorback just to the
right of the ruin shielding the centurions. Lysander and friend go just to the
right of the tanks. Far on the right the small tactical marines hold the old
temple.

I responded by placing the dark reapers and spiritseer manning the
lascannon, ready to pop some rhinos. The farseer joins a unit of guardians
manning the left side of the defence line opposite the land raider (so I could
guide them and doom the raider). The second guardian squad goes in the ruin
again opposite the land raider. The war walkers go far left. I place the
rangers in the woods in my deployment zone and then the 3 wave serpents (ones a
falcon proxieing for now) on the right of the woods with the wraithguard hidden
inside the back one. Warp spiders hide behind the hill far right. The swooping
hawks go into reserve.

Steal the Initiative: No

Night Fight: No

The Battle

Imperial Fists Turn 1

The razorback and rhino both move 12 forwards flanked by Lysander and his
drinking buddies, the centurions follow behind. Going at cruising speed the
land raider joins the razorback in the middle of the table.

The rain of fire begins with the hunter shooting at the fire prism (I thought
I was safe from the hunter but skyfire lets you shoot at skimmers with normal
BS apparently… gotta remember that one) but somehow strength 7 armourbane fails
to even glance the fire prism. However the centurions fair better and wreck a
wave serpent, the serpent shield stopped it exploding but still it gave up
first blood. The small tactical squad’s lascannon manages to glance the
wraithguard’s ride and the devastators manage to take 2 hull points off the 3rd
wave serpent. Now the real pain comes from the terminators shooting at the dark
reapers, all 5 terminators hit thanks to the re-roll 1’s, 6 shots wound and I can’t
get a single roll above 2… so all 5 dark reapers die and the spiritseer takes a
wound. That was unfortunate, nothing I can do about that.

Eldar turn 1

Delving into the powers of the warp, the farseer casts Doom on the
Land raider and guides the fire prism. On the right the warp spiders warp jump
16 inches forwards towards the lone tactical marines. Both wave serpents move
forwards gaining their beautiful holo field saves. On the left the war walkers
sneak forwards. The spirtseer grabs the lascannon.

Shooting starts with the war walkers on the devastator squad as they
couldn’t get both walkers to see the land raider (Even after running) and mange
to down 3 of the marines including the sergeant. The farseers guardians shoot
at the land raider and its explodes thanks to doom allowing them to re-roll a
failed penetrating roll. 1 Assault marines dies in the explosion., and the
marines are pinned. The second squad of guardians shoot at the razorback and
shake it. Showing how fast a unit can move the warp spiders ran 5 inches then
shot at the tactical marines killing 4 of them leaving only the sergeant alive,
who held his ground. Both wave serpents shoot at the rhino and only manage a
glance and a pen which takes off the rhino’s storm bolter. Focusing its beam
into a small blast the fire prism targets the terminators and scatters, guide
lets me re-roll and it scatters less but all survive thanks to a 5+
invulnerable.

Assault phase and the warp spiders jump 8 inches forwards.

Imperial fists turn 2

Again the rhino and razorback move forwards followed by the
terminators and centurions. The lone tactical marine goes after the warp
spiders.

A torrent of fire targets the fire prism from the centurions, and they
get 3 penetrating results, but the tank manages to jink all 3. Unfortunately
the hunter is having none of it and blows the prism of it, reducing the tank to
next to useless. Devastators shoot at the wraithguard’s wave serpent but again
it gets jinked.

Assault phase and Lysander and chums attempt to charge the closest
wave serpent and require a 9 but rolls double 1. The lone tactical marines
charges into the warp spiders and dies to overwatch.

Eldar turn 2

For fun the farseer guides the spiritseer and dooms the assault
terminators. Not wanting to get caught by Lysander the wraithguard wave serpent
moves away in to the marines back field. The warp spiders move towards the
hunter with a warp jump. The empty wave serpent moves back and the fire prism
attempts to distract the enemy from the important things and fly’s straight towards
them.

Shooting from the empty serpent wrecks the rhino forcing the tactical
marines out. The other wave serpent
boosts away. The guided spiritseer only manages to shake (rolled a 1) the
razorback reducing it to 1 hull point. Finishing their job the war walkers kill
off the 2 devastators as the guardians wound a centurion. Using battle focus
the warp spiders run forwards and wreck the hunter.

As they are a bit too close to the terminators the warp spiders
attempt to move back but roll double 1… damn.

Imperial fists turn 3

With the fire prism right in front of them the assault terminators go
after it (stops them going for the guardians). On its last legs the razorback
moves 6 inches and drops off the command squad by my defence line. The tactical
squad break the cover of their wrecked rhino and join them. Lysander orders his
terminators back to deal with the warp spiders as they are easy prey. Slowly the
centurions move to the middle ground to have a dominating position on the
table.

Wanting to remove the empty wave serpent, the centurions have no
difficulty in wrecking it. Double tapping their bolt guns the 8 man unit of
tactical marines gun down the rangers, poor little fellows never had a chance.
Using pistols the command squad kill off the spiritseer.

Assault phase and the assault terminators do what they do, exploding
the fire prism and unfortunately none of them die in the explosion. Lysander
and terminators charge into the warp spiders and catch them. No over watch
wounds but before the marines can strike a single warp spider puts his blade
though a terminators eye killing 1. I lose 7 aspect warriors to the fury of the
marines and the lone guy runs for it.

Eldar turn 3

Again the farseer dooms the assault marines and attempts to guide his
guardians but fails with double 6 and takes a wound for his troubles. In the
sky an object can be seen plummeting towards the tactical marines, it explodes killing
a single marine. The swooping hawks arrive from reserve and are placed on the
right hand side to shoot at the tactical marines. The guardians move towards
the tactical marines and the wave serpent again hounded by Lysander moves back
towards my deployment zone.

A brilliant light comes from the hawks as they all shoot at the
tactical squad with their laser weapons and 2 marines die. Focusing their skills
the guardians run 5 towards the marines and shoot at the command squad killing
a single member. The wave serpent adds its fire support to punish the command
squad and kill another marine. Shots from the war walkers hit the assault
terminators and thanks to doom 3 terminators are killed, leaving a lone
survivor. Not wanting any marines to live the guardians that haven’t shot use
their lance to down the last assault marine. Both the tactical marines and
command squad need to take a moral test and BOTH FAIL! They both run away 10
inches giving me a little breathing room.

Imperial fists turn 4

Lysander shows how much of a stalker he is and goes behind the wave
serpent. The tactical marines regroup and move towards the wave serpent, the command
regroup and go behind the razorback.

Using their plasma gun on the wave serpent the tactical marines only
manage to scratch the tanks pain, nothing more. Thanks to the jink save the
same is true of the centurions and terminators shots.

Infuriated the tank still lives, Lysander and crew charge into the
wave serpent and explode it but no one dies in the process. they then consolidate away.

Eldar turn 4

The farseer guides his guardians. The swooping hawks skyleap off the
table. The wraithguard face the terminators, hopefully they can hold them up
long enough to win the game. The war walkers move forwards and the guardians
both move along the defence line.

Holding their ground the wraithguard shoot at the terminators and kill
a single model as Lysander tanks all the other wounds and laughs them off. The
guardians wreck the razorback. Some lucky shots from the war walkers manage to
kill and wound another centurion.

Imperial fists turn 5

Lysander and terminators surround the wraithguard while the centurions
go after the war walkers. Both the tactical marines and command squad go to
fight the guardians.

Showing their fire power the centurions explode 1 war walker and wreck
the other. Again double tapping the tactical marines shoot at the guardians but
only kill 2.

Assault phase and the command squad charge into the farseers guardians
and issue a challenge to which the farseer accepts. Showing the young whelp
what it means to fight the eldar the farseer dispatches his enemy with ease. No
one else causes any damage and the command squad breaks, but don’t escape so
hold their ground. Lysander and friends charge into the wraithguard and before
all the wraithguard are destroyed one manages to kill the sergeant first. They
then consolidate towards the guardians.

Eldar turn 5

The hawks drop in again but this time in the marine deployment zone.
Their grenade pack fails to kill and of the tactical marines. The guardians not
in combat move to support their brethren.

Shooting from the hawks fails to do anything this turn.

Assault phase and the apothecary issues a challenge and again the
farseer accepts, killing this marine with as much ease. The lone model holds.

We roll to see if we get another turn (I need it)…

Imperial fist turn 6

Turning, the centurions face the hawks while the tacticals and terminators
move towards the guardians.

Frag rounds and lascannon fire from the centurions kills 4 of the
aspect warriors but they hold.

The tactical marines attempt to charge the guardians but fail to reach
combat. Keeping his streak alive the farseer kills the last member of the
command squad.

Eldar turn 6

The farseer guides his unit and dooms the tactical marines. They move up
towards the tacticals while the other guardians take my objective.

The bladestorm from the guardians kill all bar 1 of the tactical
marines.

Well that was a mixed bag of a game with luck abandoning both of us at
the beginning, me losing my dark reapers to storm bolter fire and him losing
his land raider to a single bright lance shot. It was very close and if the
game ended either turn 5 or went on to turn 7 I would have lost, so I can say
this was lucky, I need to practice more with this list to get be able to use it
properly. Anyway what did I learn?

·Wave Serpents: I should hide them if I’m not
going first, while the serpent shield is a great defence it won’t stop a vast
bombardment of shots from just wrecking your tanks. Hide them!

·Guardians: I don’t think the guardians out on
their own was a good call, maybe they should have been in the wave serpents so
they could have jumped out and killed something mid field or taken the enemy objectives.
I got lucky this game with the lances so I can’t rely on that again. But the
mass of lances was nice.

·War Walkers: An odd combo on them with fewer
shots but I quite liked the ability to take out heavy tanks if I needed to. Ass
anti-Meq not so good as duel scatter but I will see what other uses they have.

·Warp spiders: I love these guys and throwing
them up a weak flank is defiantly the way to go. I don’t get why people deep strike
them as they are fast enough to shoot turn 1 on an average roll! (6+7 jump + 3
run = 16 inches + 12 range = 28 range) and having 8 was great. I know I used
fire dragons this game but I have more on their way… I promise.

Well that was a promising first game but it wasn’t exactly a tournament
list, next game I will see what I can face to test the lists metal.

8 comments:

I agree that you shouldn't have the guardians out on their own. Playing IG, I can sympathize with how fragile they are except that, where IG has several scoring units should we loose and infantry squad or two, you do not. They need to either accomplish something or score. Thankfully for you, your farseer stepped up this game and is probably the MVP of the match.

Did you use Executioner? It seems like such an awesome power to me but most Eldar players lambaste it ruthlessly. Was it how your farseer performed so well in melee?

I think a better target priority would have made this an easier win as would a better deployment. With deployment, I would make sure to take advantage of pre-measuring. You should never be in range of 24'' guns on the first turn. (Centurions, Storm Bolters, etc.) Measure and make sure you are 31" away and make sure your opponent knows you are that far away. Losing the Reapers and the Serpent early, hurt... alot.

It seemed as though you kept the Wraithguard back a bit. How come? Were scared of being assaulted and shot? I think they would be worth sacrficing to shoot at the Land Raider or the Centurions (remember Instant Death on 6's) or even the slogging Termies. I would try and get them out as soon as possible. Opponents will shoot the crap out of them, which means big guns will be comign their way. If they die, it is ok. They are tough and should take quite a bit of shooting.

I know the Walkers seem like a weird set up, but with the set up, they can take on anything. It makes their Lances more reliable with them being Twin-Linked, and the 8 Str 6 shots is good at causing many saves. It is always nice to have a stray Lance shoot and down a tank. Like you said, you can't rely on it, but it does happen more often than you think. it is very demoralizing for your opponents as well. remember the Lances on the Walkers can kill Heavy Infantry too. Centurions (with no Invuln) dont like low AP weapons and with 2 and a bunch of Scatter Lasers I wouldnt be suprised if you killed 2 in 1 salvo of the Walkers. They are also very good with fliers.

I would also try and keep the Guardians in the Serpents as long as possible. They are fragile and do not like Morale checks.

I noticed you said your Farseer took a wound from Perils of the Warp after casting his 2nd power (Guide). You know he doesn't take a wound if you have a Warp Charge left right? By using up a Warp Charge, you can negate that wound. Very nice thing to have and remember!

I am glad you won the game and looking forward to the other reports you are sure to have with the list. Hope for the best!

Yer the deployment was quite bad honestly i didn't really know what i was doing but now i have had a game with the list i think i have a better idea. To be fair losing the reapers was a freak accident which really shouldn't have happened. But i admit maybe i shouldn't have put them in harms way.

The plan for my wraithguard was to hit the centurions and instant kill them (guns being Str 10 and all) but with lysander blocking my way i didn't want to risk that. As he big man has a 3++ and eternal warrior he would have absorbed all the wounds and the wraithguard wouldn't have done anything. Unfortunately that's what happened though. I should have been more decisive with them early on.

Yer i forgot the new ghost helm rule... my bad. I will try to remember it in future.